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Blood drive tomorrow

On Jan. 2, local resident Travis Glasgow was taken to the emergency room with a severe bloody nose, lasting about two hours. Glasgow has had bloody noses his whole life, but none that lasted that long.After stopping the bleeding, doctors at Rolling Plains Memorial Hospital had blood work done on Glasgow and found that his white blood count was severely low. He was immediately sent to Hendrick Medical Center in Abilene. A bone marrow biopsy was performed on Thursday and a diagnosis came back the next Wednesday morning. Glasgow was diagnosed with acute promyelocystic leukemia (APL), a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. The silver lining on this cancer diagnosis is that APL is a highly treatable form of leukemia.Glasgow is not in need of blood as much as he is in need of platelets, which help in the formation of blood clots. Platelets can be donated only through the Meek Blood Center, located at 1150 North 18th Street, in Abilene. To donate, call and make an appointment with the Meek Blood Center at (325) 670-2805. Platelet donations can be made every two weeks, but only last about five days.The Glasgow family is holding a blood drive with the Meek Blood Center on Tuesday, Feb. 5, from noon to 6 p.m. at Glasgow Automotive Shop, located at 811 W. Broadway. For every bag of blood that is donated in Glasgow's name, he gets credit.Glasgow's daughter, Karen Appling, said, "We want to do the blood drive to help raise awareness for cancer patients and what they need. He doesn't need the blood right now; mainly he just needs platelets. But later on down the road he may need that blood."Glasgow is still at Hendrick Medical Center and is on neutropenic precaution — meaning that because his white blood count is critically low, his body cannot sustain any type of infection, therefore he cannot have visitors. "They've started him on ATRA (All-Trans Retinoic Acid), a chemo pill," said Appling. "Once they start him on the chemotherapy on Saturday, he won't be able to have any visitors at all. It's a four-week, very intense treatment, but it has a 90% recovery rate."Most of Glasgow's family lives in Sweetwater. His mother and father, Winnie and Marvin Glasgow, founded First Apostolic Tabernacle, and his sister, Ann Cavitt and husband Lester, own Glasgow Upholstery. His daughter, Karen, lives in Sweetwater with her husband Clint and son Caden, and his daughter, Cindy, lives in Houston with her fiance, Grant Hefford.A Facebook event has been started, Blood Drive for Travis Glasgow, and can be viewed at https://www.facebook.com/events/132636706897998/?fref=ts.